The purpose of this evaluation was to examine the impact of i-Ready Personalized Instruction that met Curriculum Associates' recommended usage levels on ELA achievement, as measured by the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) ELA assessment. This study compared the ELA achievement growth in the 2020-21 school year of students who…

This study investigated the effects of student and classroom characteristics on math self-confidence, perceived usefulness, and enjoyment of mathematics as multiple outcomes. A sample of 7th-grade students from 78 classes of 49 schools was studied. The data were collected using, among other instruments, an attitude questionnaire. The results of…

Reading comprehension in the content areas is a challenge for many middle grade students. Text structure-based instruction has yielded positive outcomes in reading comprehension at all grade levels in small and large studies. The text structure strategy delivered via the web, called Intelligent Tutoring System for the Text Structure Strategy…

This study examines the use of cross-classified random effects models (CCrem) and cross-classified multiple membership random effects models (CCMMrem) to model rater bias and estimate teacher effectiveness. Effect estimates are compared using CTT versus item response theory (IRT) scaling methods and three models (i.e., conventional multilevel…

This study investigates the link between process evaluation components and the outcomes of a school-based nutrition curriculum intervention, "Choice, Control and Change". Ten New York City public middle schools were recruited and randomly assigned into intervention or control condition. The curriculum was to improve sixth to seventh…

Attendance is probably the most fundamental behavioral indicator of student engagement with school. Though many students fall off-track to success for the first time in ninth grade, poor attendance patterns often begin increasing in middle school and become worse in high school. Missing school during the secondary grades can often be traced to low…

This mixed methods study was designed to compare the effect of using an inquiry teaching methodology and a more traditional teaching methodology on the learning gains of students who were taught a five-week conceptual change unit on density. Seventh graders (N = 479) were assigned to five teachers who taught the same unit on density using either a…

Educators have long used test scores to make educational decisions, but only within the last decade has the availability of data been systematic (Abelman, Elmore, Even, Kenyon, & Marshall, 1999). In recent years, interest has spiked in data-driven decision making in education (Marsh, Pane, & Hamilton, 2006). With technological advances and…

This dissertation is comprised of three manuscripts and presents a line of research aimed at improving the measurement of bullying in schools. The first manuscript investigated the impact of an educational video on self-reports of bullying. A sample of 1,283 middle school students in randomly assigned classrooms either watched or did not watch an…

The underachievement of ethnic minority youth from disadvantaged neighborhoods is a pervasive educational issue this nation is facing. Based on an ecological perspective, we examined the contextual effects of neighborhood ethnic density and neighborhood disadvantage on the academic achievement of Hmong immigrant youths. Utilizing hierarchical…